Beach Clean: If I can do it on one leg, anyone can!

We've had some pretty mixed weather over the last couple of months at home, I headed down to Porth Neigwl, (Hell's Mouth) for a surf and was really sad at the amount of rubbish that is lying around that has washed in from the sea.

We are responsible for this planet and we are making such a mess of the oceans, seeing the Blue Planet episode with the plastic islands floating in the sea is like watching something from a horror movie, how have we let this happen?

We are the ones who can do something about it, we have the technology to get into space, dive deeper than anyone though possible. When we live in an age where holograms are becoming a reality, electic cars drift silently through streets and we are curing more diseases than ever before, why are we leaving such a horrific legacy behind us in the form of these plastic islands in our oceans?

If ever person (there are roughly 3million of us!) who lived by the coast picked up just 5 pieces of rubbish, that is 15 million pieces of rubbish that will no longer plight our oceans. If everyone did that once a month that would be 180 million pieces over the course of a year and thats just the UK! Thats over 2,500 tonns of rubbish based on the weight of a single plastic bottle.

I did a solo beach clean on my crutches, dragging a bin bag behind me and maaged to clear a good amount (thanks for keeping me warm DryRobe!). As a result we are now having a beach clean this Saturday at 1pm, meet at Hell's Mouth Car park ! Hope to see loads of you there!

Winter Surf

Ive been back in the UK for a couple of weeks now for the festive period with my partner, family and seeing my kid. Jac, my kid is only 3 so he is at a magical age for Christmas, its something I would never want to miss.

Surf has been on and off since ive been back and its been tough to get in the water around family time. Some decent swell came in this week and I was off down Porth Ceiriad. There was some fantastic clean over head height rollers coming in onto the beach, with a bit of blue in the sky sa well, other than the freezing temperatures I could have been anywhere in the world!

Winter can be challenging for some surf spots in Wales, Porth Ceiriad on a cold day can really set your teeth on edge, it taking some time to get back to the car/quad bike. Even in a full winter suit, full facemask, boots and gloves its bitter up here!

After a couple of hours of catching some fantastic waves, appetitie got the better of me and I headed into the beach. Even with the sun shining, it was still super cold. A big challenge in the winter is getting my kit dry qiuckly. Bringing the suit into the house can be a real annoyance for Dad and the rest of the family 'neoprene' smell hits everything in the bathroom and even with the heating up, it still seems to take far longer in the winter to get things dry. Its hard to find somewhere to hand the suit without soaking the bathroom floor with drips and getting venitlation to it.

Cue DryBag! Not a single row with the family over Christmas about a cold stinking wetsuit hanging up in the bathroom! Its ventilated, no drips and helps it to get dry! Score!

​Season Roundup

What a year its been! 2017 has seen me do more competitions than before and clocking up some airmiles along the way!

It has been a real pleasure to take part in compeitions at home and abroad, even getting involved in an open non adaptive competition for the first time.

Its been awesome to be seeing familiar faces now on the adaptive surfing circuit and its been such a pleasure to meet such amazing and inspriing people.

Highlights have been placing 3rd at the historic Duke's Oceanfest and 2nd in the US Open.

I wouldnt have been able to make the progress i have done this year or travel to the places I have been without the support of my friends and family and of course my sponsors.

Happy New Year to everyone, see you out on the water in 2018!

No Waves No Problem: Trying out my new Dry Bag

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No waves no waves no waves!! It’s been a frustrating week in North Wales, with calm conditions and not even enough slight swell to take my kid for a quick body board! I spent an afternoon down the beach with a friend, helping him get some driftwood for a project he is working on and decided enough was enough, I needed some waves!

So I headed off to Surf Snowdonia, the world class wave garden is just over an hour away and they have been enough to send me some sessions to help me prepare for the World Championships next month.

Usually I surf at home I head to North Ceiriad or North Neigwl (known more widely as Hell’s Mouth). The conditions can be great, with nice clean waves and the most amazing surroundings. Even better is I can get down there on my quad bike, just on the doorstep. Whats great is i can jump on the bike with the board, in my wetsuit and back again. No hassle. Wetsuit gets chucked in the bathroom and i’m good to go.

Problem with Surf Snowdonia is my kit has to sit in the car all the way home….dripping wet in bin bags. Not great, my car has fabric seats and in the winter its not exactly practical with wet kit if the bags leak.

This week I took the Dry Bag with me. I finished the session at Surf Snowdonia, gave the suit a rinse and hung it up in the bag. The bag itself is pretty cool, the material feels extremely well made and tough, and there is certainly no issue with the hanger not being up to it. Its extremely heavy duty and thick enough that it can hold the suit without damaging it.

The drive home was just over an hour, and I stopped at the local on the way home to see some friends for dinner. Before i booked my taxi home I remembered my suit and decided to check it in the car before heading home. The suit had been in the car for roughly 5 hours and was dry! Usually the suit would be still sodden, in a bin bag in the car!

I took the Dry Bag home with me and took it into the bathroom where my i’d usually have hug a dripping suit to the annoyance of my Dad! Hanging the Dry Bag over the bath I released the plug and out came the water!

I’m impressed, first use if the bag and its already worth its weight in gold to a surfer who often drives for surf when it’s flat at home! The Dry Bag is definitely coming to competitions with me, nothing worse than getting in a damp suit after the first day in the surf!